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As unhappy as some U.S. basketball fans may be at news that the NBA's New York Knicks decided not match the Houston Rockets' offer for point guard phenom Jeremy Lin - and some are very unhappy indeed - at least folks in China will be pleased with result, right? After all, Lin is going to the team that forever won the adoration of Chinese basketball fans by helping homegrown basketballer Yao Ming become a global megastar.
林书豪──那时他还是个尼克斯人。纽约尼克斯队(Knicks)决定放弃匹配休斯顿火箭队(Rockets)提供给明星控球后卫林书豪(Jeremy Lin)的合约，尽管这可能会让一些美国球迷不高兴，而且有些人对此非常不满，但至少中国的朋友们会对这个结果感到高兴吧？毕竟，林书豪即将加入的火箭队曾帮助中国球员姚明成长为国际巨星，并因此赢得了中国球迷永远的热爱。
Judging by reaction on Chinese social media sites, not so much.
然而从中国社交媒体上的反应来看，却并非如此。
'Good luck, I guess. In the past, there was a Chinese guy named Yao who was also tricked into wasting years with [Houston],' one user of Sina Corp.'s Weibo microblogging service wrote in reaction to the news, expressing a sentiment widely repeated elsewhere on the site.
新浪公司(Sina Corp.)的微博客服务平台的一名用户对这条新闻发表评论时写道：祝好运吧，之前有个叫YAO的华人也被他们骗来蹉跎了很多年。微博上许多其他网友也表达了同样的情绪。
The Knicks choose not to match a three-year, $25-million contract offer from Houston - where Yao was an eight-time All-Star but never contended for a championship - that will pay Lin a stunning $15 million in the final year.
尼克斯队决定不匹配休斯顿提供给林书豪的三年2,500万美元的合约。按照该合约，火箭将在合约最后一年支付林书豪1,500万美元的高额薪资。姚明在火箭队时八次入选全明星，但从来没有机会拿到总冠军。
Houston was one of two teams that had cut Lin last year before he landed with the Knicks.
林书豪加入尼克斯队之前曾先后被两支球队裁掉，其中就包括火箭队。
New York was widely expected to bring Lin back after the 23-year-old Harvard University graduate keyed a turnaround for the sputtering Knicks with a stunning string of performances in February - including a jaw-dropping 38-point monster of a game against the Los Angeles Lakers - that sent Linsanity sweeping across the globe. Even after it became clear that Houston was going to offer the 6-foot-3 Taiwanese-American a massive contract, many pundits predicted the Knicks would match, if only because of his marketing appeal.
外界此前普遍预计入尼克斯队一定会挽留林书豪。此前，这名23岁的哈佛大学(Harvard University)毕业生曾在2月份凭借着一连串惊人表现为尼克斯队带来了惊天逆转，在对阵洛杉矶湖人队的比赛中，林书豪狂砍38分表现让所有人瞠目结舌，也使“林来疯”(Linsanity)一词席卷全球。即使是火箭队已经表明了要为这名身高191厘米的华裔美籍运动员开出高价，许多权威人士仍然预测说，单凭林书豪的营销吸引力，尼克斯队也会匹配合约。
Analysts have argued that Houston, thanks to its experience with Yao, likely has a better understanding than New York of Lin's off-court value, especially in Asia. That's a notion not lost on users of Sina Weibo, where Lin boasts more than 2.8 million followers. 'The Rockets have tasted the sweetness of having a Chinese element and known the bitterness of losing it,' wrote a Weibo user posting under the name Canglan2010. 'This is a business transaction.
分析人士认为，得益于与姚明的合作经验，休斯顿很可能比纽约更清楚林书豪在球场外的价值，尤其是在亚洲。新浪微博上的网友也没有忽视这一点。林书豪在新浪微博上的粉丝数量超过了280万。用户“苍蓝2010”发帖说：火箭尝过了有中国元素的甜头和无中国元素的失落，这是一桩生意。
Lin's father declined to comment when reached by phone on Tuesday. The player s agent couldn't be reached.
林书豪的父亲周二在电话中拒绝置评。记者无法联系到林书豪的经纪人。
Lin fans in both Taiwan and mainland China, like their counterparts in the U.S., expressed concerns that the young player s development could suffer by going to a team with few stars.
与美国的球迷一样，林书豪在台湾和中国大陆的粉丝同样表达了这样的担心：这名年轻球员未来的发展可能会因为加入一个缺乏巨星的球队而断送。
'I'm worried the Rockets don't have as many top-rated players as the Knicks and that might hinder Jeremy from improving further,' said Ian Lee, a 19-year-old student in Taiwan. 'But whenever Jeremy goes, Taiwanese will follow and watch.'
台湾一名19岁的学生Ian Lee说，我担心由于火箭没有尼克斯队那么多的顶级球员，这可能会阻碍林书豪的球技进一步提高。但是，无论林书豪在哪支球队，台湾人都会关注他，并且观看他的比赛。
Houston undoubtedly had its eye on the China market when it decided to make the offer to Mr. Lin, said Matt Beyer, founder of China-based sports marketing firm Altius Culture. 'The investment they made in Yao Ming in terms of his salary they made back tens of times over in sales of merchandise in China,ˉ he said. 'This will be a good thing for them.'
总部位于中国的体育营销公司Altius Culture创始人马特(Matt Beyer)说，在决定向林书豪伸出橄榄枝时，休斯顿看中的无疑是中国市场。他说，对于他们在姚明身上的投资，也就是姚明的薪资，他们已经通过在中国销售产品赚回了数十倍，林书豪的加入对他们来说是个好事。
It's difficult to calculate how much an athlete like Yao is worth to his team, although the size of his salary and endorsement deals might provide a clue. In 2003, Yao signed a 10-year endorsement contract with Reebok that was estimated to pay him between $7 million and $10 million a year, and in 2005 he made a total of roughly $15 million from endorsement deals with various companies. In 2010, his final season with the Rockets, Yao was paid $17.7 million in salary.
要计算姚明这样的球员对球队的价值到底是多少并不容易，不过，从姚明的薪资和代言交易的规模之中我们或许可以得到一些线索。2003年，姚明与锐步(Reebok)签订了一个长达10年的代言合同，据估计，锐步在该交易中每年支付给姚明的报酬在700万美元到1,000万美元之间。2005年，姚明通过与不同公司签订代言交易共获得约1,500万美元的报酬。2010年姚明在火箭队最后一个赛季的薪资为1,770万美元
Mr. Beyer, the first foreigner to be certified as a sports agent in China, dismissed negative reaction on the Chinese Internet as 'emotional' and said it wasn't likely to impact Lin's popularity or earning power in China in the long run.
马特是第一位在中国获得体育经纪人资格的外籍人士。他认为中国互联网上的消极观点只是情绪化的反应，他说，从长期来看，林书豪加入火箭队不太可能对林书豪的人气或是赚钱能力产生影响。
'Jeremy Lin is going to sell merchandise no matter what team he's playing for,' he said, adding that ultimately the player's success in China will depend on how well he plays.
马特说，无论为哪支球队效力，林书豪的广告效应都非常强大。他补充说，归根结底，林书豪在中国能否获得成功取决于他在赛场上的表现。
As proof that Chinese fans won't lavish attention on a player simply because of his ethnic background Beyer pointed to Yi Jianlian. The Chinese-born power forward entered the NBA to much fanfare in 2007 only to fade quickly into anonymity after failing to impress on the court.
为了证明中国的球迷不会仅仅因为球员的国籍而决定是否关注此人，马特提到了易建联的例子。这名中国籍大前锋2007年高调加入NBA，但因在球场上没有让人印象深刻的表现很快归于沉寂。
Just how much Lin cares about his marketing potential in the world's second-largest economy is unclear. Noting the player's plans to launch a series of basketball camps in China this summer, Beyer said he suspected Lin was more interested in using his fame to improve the quality of Chinese basketball. And with $25 million coming his way over the next three years, he's not likely to be hurting for cash.
目前并不清楚林书豪到底在多大程度上在乎自己在中国这一全球第二大经济体的营销潜力。马特提到了林书豪今夏在中国举办一系列篮球训练营的计划，他说，他认为林书豪更感兴趣的是用自己的名气提高中国的篮球水平。鉴于未来三年将有2,500万美元进账，林书豪做这样的事不太可能是为了赚钱。
